The insurance industry estimates the cost of property damage, bodily injury and related expenses for motor vehicle accidents exceed approximately $250 billion annually. This figure is only expected to increase. Moreover, the industry further estimates "low speed" collisions account for approximately 80% of all reported motor vehicle accidents.
Many of these low-speed collisions are associated with subjective injuries. The expenses associated with such collisions and injuries could be dramatically reduced if the magnitude and severity of the accident were known. Generally, to determine the magnitude and severity, the accident must be "reconstructed".
In the area of automobile accident reconstruction, an accident analyst determines how an accident most probably occurred by measuring, among other factors, the length of the skid marks, the extent of vehicle and property damage, the weather, and the conditions of the road at the time of the accident. This method of reconstructing accidents has been shown at times to be both expensive and inaccurate.
Alternatively, most commercial aircraft are equipped with a "black box". This device records pertinent data from the aircraft's major subsystems as the aircraft is operating. If an accident occurs, the "black box" can generally be recovered and the recorded information extracted. This information can be used to determine the status of the subsystems just prior to the accident. Determining the status of the subsystems just prior to the accident can be used to reconstruct the events leading up to the accident, and assist the investigators in determining the accident's cause. Black box recording devices have proven invaluable in aviation accident reconstruction.
However, this type of technology is costly, and generally limited to large and expensive vehicles, such as aircraft. In addition, these types of devices must be able to survive the impact forces associated with aircraft accidents. These devices tend to be too costly, too cumbersome and consume too much power to be acceptable for automobile use.
Numerous performance recording devices have been designed prior to the present invention, specifically for use with automobiles. Some typical devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,829 to Montaron, U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,432 to Camhi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,024 to Riley, Jr. et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,464 to Woll et al. However, until the present invention, such prior art devices did not disclose a self-contained apparatus suitable for long term use, i.e. one year or longer.
These prior art devices suffer from a number of drawbacks. Generally, these devices must be interconnected with the major subsystems of the automobile, i.e. power, ignition, steering, braking, etc. They are not self contained and are expensive to install and maintain. Additionally, providing a means for interconnection to the automobile subsystems provides a means for access to the device, so that tampering may occur. Moreover, those prior art devices that are truly self-contained have a short life span, i.e., on the order of several months, but at least less than one year.
Thus there is a need for a tamper-proof, self-contained recording apparatus and method that records and provides information useful for accident reconstruction. There is further a need to provide such an apparatus and method that is easy to install and maintain and has a life span of one year or greater to coincide with the vehicle's annual service.